I’m constantly on the lookout for examples of good and bad marketing campaigns alike. I get inspiration from walking down the street, on Tube trains, online – wherever I roam really. My brain has been naturally tuned over the years to notice messages, process them, dump the bad ideas and to somehow harness the good ones.

The example below is about as bad as it gets.

In Ryanair’s rush to make money (from anything), someone somewhere thought it would make an excellent idea to make a couple of cents per click at most, by displaying links to their competitors, possibly offering better prices or at least the ability to compare their offer, in a matter of seconds.

Who in their right mind would allow such ridiculousness? “I know – let’s make a couple of cents, and hijack our core business by advertising our competitors next to our buy now page.” – you can just imagine the months of meetings that went into this strategy.

DON’T make their mistake – THINK through what you are doing before executing.

This week I’ve conducted interviews on behalf of one of my clients with three of their customers in Stuttgart, Brussels and Barcelona. Today I do an interview in Colorado and next week I will conducting around 25 different interviews on a temporary green screen studio we set up in London.

I don’t watch TV in the traditional way any more, I spend all my time looking at how TV is made. Camera angles, questioning techniques, interview style and set layout are all I see now. I have to rewatch things to hear the content!

It’s fair to say I’m obsessed with how to get good at having conversations, which are being recorded.

I thought it was time to share what I’ve learnt about getting the best interview possible. Do note, this is not about interviewing candidates for a job, but how to create testimonials and case studies for your business and your customers’. There is no better method of delivering social proof on your website or collateral than real live customers extolling your virtues. This is how to do get it right.

The approach

It’s been said that the best time to ask for referrals and testimonials is as soon as someone signs up to your product or service. Grab ‘em while they’re hot. I sort of agree with that concept, however I’d taper it a little. We’ve had situations where a customer has signed up and as part of the deal, we’ve asked for a testimonial interview in say a month’s time. This commits the customer, yet at the same time lets them get used to the service, experience what you can do for them and in short, give them more to talk about! There’s no point in asking for an interview, when the really juicy stuff might take them a couple of months to uncover. Be sensitive to this.

When you do approach a customer, it’s nice to ask on the back of something else, so it doesn’t sound so threatening. Maybe they’ve asked a question, submitted a support request or even are reporting a problem of some kind… solve their problem and ask them whether you could talk to them later in the month – you’d love to find out how they’re feeling about the service and whether they’d consider allowing you to record the interview.

Give them some options for times (being sensitive to time zones) or ask them for when suits. Confirm it in writing and be crystal clear on how long it will last, and most importantly, what your intention is to do with it once published. State that up front, so that there are no surprises later.

The method

Offer your customer a video interview first (that’s definitely the way to go)… if they’re not happy with that, then audio is second best. If they are close by, go and see them. Grab your PC or Mac, plug in a microphone and off you go. If they are further afield, then Skype is an amazing alternative. Skype recording has become part of my life.

For Skype video, if you’re on a PC, by far and away (and I’ve tested them all), Vodburner is the way to go. It’s a video recorder for Skype, requires a reasonable amount of processing power (well it is recording live video) and includes an editor within it, which automatically cuts between you and your subject and works a treat. Make sure you use a powerful, cleanish PC for best results.

If you’re using audio only, then www.voipcallrecording.com offers a completely free, and most excellent Skype recorder. You can learn a lot from the huge volume of podcast interviews around. One of my favourites is here. Listen to the natural conversation between Timbo and James – that’s one of the reason it works so well. Timbo is also a good ‘framer’ – he puts things into context a lot and is a natural guide, summariser and host.

Planning

Have you seen Frost Nixon, the movie? You should watch it if you’re going to do this regularly. The meticulous detail they put in around the questions was quite extraordinary.

Think about how you’re going to introduce your interviewee – what’s the context, their job title, company name etc…? Script it out if you have to, and it’s great to memorise your first 10-15 seconds, so you can get the first few words out confidently. Accept you’re going to be nervous – if you don’t do this often, (and even if you do) if you’re excited about who you’re about to talk to, you will have some nerves. These nerves will be magnified if you don’t prepare well. I was nervous for this interview, because my subject was a long time hero of mine (and still is!).

Have your questions ready. Write them down in front of you. Think about all of the different permutations of things you could ask. Phrase open questions – how, why, who, when, where. Know your subject, research them, surprise them with what you know – it’s OK, it’s not stalking – it shows you care. It will also help to engage with them if you show you’ve done your homework. Don’t be afraid to write down questions which are more personal to them – expose their personality – that’s interesting to listen to.

On the day

If you planned well, the interview generally will go well.

Greet your interviewee, whether online or face to face. Brief them. Tell them exactly what to expect and what will happen – guide them through the process. They will be nervous unless they do this all the time. They are even more nervous with three cameras, mics, a cameraman, a green screen, an autocue and a set of lights. Your job is to put them at ease. I like to say we’re just here for a chat, and avoid the ‘interview’ word… that helps.

Record nothing to start with. Rehearse the interview through. Run through the questions with them and get them to give you a couple of fullish answers. Help them get over any nerves by rehearsing.

Here’s the next really important bit… ASK THEM if they’d like to add any questions to the ones you’ve rehearsed. Typically, they’d like to say something you might not have thought of – give them the option of adding something – it could be a real gem you’ve not thought of!

It’s then time to hit the record button, whether on camera or on microphone.

Get your opening words out correctly and aim to do this right first time. 2nd takes are invariably worse than first takes in my experience. Everything’s ‘fresher’ first time round. If there is a stumble on a question or answer, pause and redo that part, but keep things rolling… you can edit it out later. Get the good stuff down on ‘tape’ first. Act as the host. Guide and prompt your interviewee. Don’t be afraid to ask additional/different questions to the ones written down. Your planning will allow you to do this.

LISTEN to their answers! React to them – don’t just ask the next question blindly – turn it into a conversation. That’s what your audience will enjoy.

When the conversation comes to a natural end, keep things rolling and ask your subject how they felt it went, whether they’d like to redo any of their answers, and whether you missed anything – and then keep going until you’re BOTH happy it’s worked. Make sure it has a rounding off statement (pre-prepared). It could be a call to action… “Take a look further down the page at more examples…” “sign up using the button just below…” etc etc. Think about that in advance!

Rounding off

Thank your subject – sorry to state the obvious – but it’s sometimes forgotten. Explain how long it will take you to complete the edit and explain they’ll be able to see / hear it before anyone else, to check they’re happy with it… OR ask whether they would like to. Most people don’t – if they’re happy with their performance, they won’t need to.

Publish, promote, rinse and repeat…

Love to hear about your experiences below.

It’s always good to look back on the year and figure out whether you’ve achieved or not, above and beyond the financial goals you may have set yourself.

2011 has been an amazing year for me in many ways and so I wanted to document my highlights to look back on for prosperity. In no particular order.

1. After a year of courting and 3 months of working together on one of the worst projects I’ve ever been part of, I sacked a Fortune 500 client in April this year and haven’t looked back. Yes I was nervous, but boy was it the right thing to do.
2. I took a 6 week, round the world, mini-retirement in July/August with my family.
3. My proudest moment to date, Customer Thermometer launched to the world in January and boasts some ENORMOUS clients who literally rave about it on a daily basis. I’m seriously proud of what we’re creating.
4. I tweaked my video production company, The 8.45 Club and now have a very healthy looking 2012 ahead producing Business TV for clients. I get to play presenter and talkshow host. So I’m like a pig in muck…
5. I’ve just finishing watching my 4 year old daughter go through her first term of school and it’s been an absolute joy watching her love every moment.
6. I watched James Schramko tell his life story in February and met him for coffee in August. He’s been a big inspiration in how I now do things.
7. I’ve totally reconstructed how I present myself and my business(es) thanks to Ed Dale’s recommendation of this book. I cannot begin to tell you how much it’s changed my business career.
8. I’ve got to talk to two marketing heroes of mine this year, David Meerman Scott and John Jantsch. It just proves once again, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
9. I ran a half marathon in sub two hours in March and have now set up a charity challenge around the running theme for Sept 2012 – more on that soon.
10. I celebrated my 40th birthday in style in Ibiza and finally wrote the story of how I very nearly didn’t make my 30th birthday, let alone live 10 years beyond that.

What a year. These are just a handful of my personal highlights. Bring on 2012.

Dara O'Briain does have a face in real life...

On Monday night this week I was fortunate enough to see a work in progress and I learnt a lot. Myself, my wife and 58 others crammed into the most gorgeous, tiny theatre on Monday evening to watch a work in progress – it was a warm up gig for one of the UK and Ireland’s top comedians. Being up so close and personal, I learnt a lot. Dara O’Briain, is host of the BBC’s Mock the Week and Stargazing Live, amongst many other things and is about to embark on another sell-out UK tour from January.

Here’s what I learnt:

1. Even if you’re on top of your game, you’re never too good to test your customer / audience reaction.
2. Even when you’ve established yourself with a new market, unless you have something interesting to say, you will not engage your audience. Jerry Seinfeld once said he has three minutes where he can rely on his brand and the audience will listen to whatever he has to say. After that, he has to be as funny/engaging as any other comedian. Dara was in the same boat.
3. You’re only as good as your last gig /communication.
4. Honesty and transparency will win through every time – Dara explained from the outset that some things may not work. (Most things did).
5. Practice, practice, practice whatever you do. The 10,000 hours rule applies to so many walks of life. I bet Dara’s done his 10,000 hours – and it shows.
6. It’s OK to be nervous – it shows you care and are passionate about what you do. It was noticeable he was more nervous at the less tried and tested parts.
7. I stood up in front of two audiences last week and presented what I do. I stood up and talked for 30 minutes. 20 minutes is the accepted length of time to hold an audience’s attention. Dara stood there for an hour and a half with 60 people hanging on his every word. That’s really tough. Next time you do a business presentation, I don’t recommend you try it.
8. Stories he told about himself and every day life resonated most. Stories win every time. Audiences love stories. Especially ones that show challenge in the face of adversity and ones that people can relate to.
9. Audiences / clients generally want you to succeed when you stand up in front of them – start with that mindset and you won’t go far wrong.
10. Whilst this clearly wasn’t a business event, it amazes me the number of people who don’t get that communications in business can be entertaining too. When you are trying to deliver a message, if you do it with humour and energy, you’ll get a better response every time – because it’ll be memorable.

And for you Dara if you read this – make more the of corporate mockery – it’ll resonate across the country… your Dutch accent sounded French until I prompted you… the Call of Duty stuff was great and do more with the Dad’s late night telly – it makes us squirm and that’s funny.

I now have a new found respect for stand up comedians – you’re very alone on that stage and 90 minutes of saying original, interesting, funny, entertaining stuff with nothing but a mic to hold onto is tough.

With Christmas coming up and as the inevitable nightmare of what to buy for loved ones rears its ugly head, I thought I’d offer a suggestion. It requires some effort (like all the best presents) and you should allow a week or so to get it all sorted. I guarantee it will be worth it.

I bought one for my wife’s 40th in June as you’ll hear me say in the video and I appeared to accumulate many scarcely-given-out-brownie-points that day.

They deliver worldwide – but you need to get on the case right now if you’re to make it in time for Christmas.

To visit the home of these awesome present makers click here!

(Note I’ll get a cup of coffee or two in commission if you click and buy, which is surely worth it for this get out of jail free card piece of Xmas present advice?)

I’ve always loved my office – because, well… it’s mine. I can have it set up however I want – no one can tell me what I can and cannot do and like all the best things in life, it’s evolved over time.

Part of the evolution I have to attribute to an episode from Freedom Ocean – the excellent podcast with Timbo Reid and James Schramko. Thank you guys.

So – in the video below, I talk through what I think is the perfect office set up.

Details of some of the kit I mention:
USB mic http://amzn.to/vOT7vS
Boom: http://amzn.to/uC6h7F
Webcam: http://amzn.to/owLB0W

(FREE) Software – two pcs, one keyboard and mouse: http://synergy-foss.org/

Screen cams / screencaptures / screenflows are all around us. People are all too keen on YouTube to show us the latest and greatest software, however in far too many cases, where people just aren’t familiar with producing videos, they’re more likely to default to text or badly labelled PowerPoint slides, which is a pity. So often a quickly put together screencam could speed up your communications to many or in a 1:1 situation.

Having been nominated as a finalist in the ScreenChamp awards a couple of days ago, I thought I should share some of my tips.

1.) Get it right on paper!

It’s so obvious, but I’m compelled to start with it – GET IT RIGHT ON PAPER. Work out what on earth you want to say first of all. Don’t just start waffling – have yourself a mindmap / cigarette packet / napkin / piece of beautifully labelled A3 – whatever your choice. If you plan it out in advance, it will take you minutes to produce a work of art as opposed to an hour to produce a mess. I have to say – one of my favourite tools is a piece of A3 paper.

2.) Keep it short

Make it as short as it can be. People hate waffle. Which brings me back to #1. Reduce the umms and arrrs by being clear in your thought process. Rehearse your ‘voiceover’ if you have to and don’t be afraid to re-record it if it just doesn’t flow. You’ll often find, recording it second time round it sounds and flows better.

3.) It’s all about the sound

Ensure you have a great microphone. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. People can handle average video – poor quality sound is a massive turn off. Whether you’re PC or Mac – I use this USB mic attached to this boom which works a treat. Crystal clear sound, plus I get to relive the olden days and feel like I’m a radio presenter all over again

4.) Maybe there’s a better way?

Think about the format you’re going to create a screencapture in. Recently, I’ve come up with an interesting method for describing concepts, which inolves turning a webcam upside down, a decent light, a piece of A3 paper and a big marker pen. With 6,000 views in a month – it seems to be resonating. Maybe, recording a screen isn’t the right answer? Maybe recording you standing in front of a whiteboard, talking is a better idea. Consider the best way to get your message across.

5.) Idea first, software second

If you are going to do a screen capture – you need the right software. Screenflow on a Mac is great. Camtasia (cheaper on Amazon than going direct!) on a PC is pretty good too. You can also check out the free services Jing and Screenr. Accept that if you’ve not used a piece of software before, there’s going to be a learning curve. Don’t shout at it – it may not be the software’s fault – it could be ‘user error’. Like everything in life, the more you do, the easier it becomes.

6.) Tell a story

If you’re going to show how a piece of software works, put things into context – show a workflow… tell a story… paint a picture. Telling your audience that SHIFT-CONTROL-F10 enables the syntax error debugging code window in full screen mode helps no one – especially if they’re a novice, which leads me on to

7.) Consider your audience

Is your audience my dad? Or is your audience an 18 year old college kid who spends 21 hours a day in front of a screen? There’s a big difference in how you tell your story – make sure you speak to your audience

8.) Prepare your assets

When you’re putting your story together – you’ll almost certainly need external files – to upload an image / create a document etc – have them to hand so you don’t spend half of your screencam searching directories. While I’m on it – for goodness sake don’t show the world all your private, personal stuff – hide your browser bookmarks, ensure you don’t navigate personal folders… it will save you having to mask it all out further down the production

9.) File formats

Ensure you export your video file in a decent format. WMVs and FLVs are so 1980’s – the file type of choice for best streaming would be a .MP4 / .M4V – these are universally accessible, are converted by YouTube nicely and are the best quality vs filesize balance of all the file types.

10.) Showcase and promote your work

There’s not much point in producing beautiful work if no one sees it. Enter it into competitions, embed it on your blog – get people to talk about what you’re doing and if you get really good at it – why not build a few, and turn them into a course. Don’t forget to give a couple of modules away for free though…

If you’ve found any great screencammers out there – add them into the comments below.

Even those who appear to have risen to success quickly has had a long, possibly hidden journey.

I live in Bray, Berkshire – about 100 metres from the home of Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant.

I just stumbled across this description of how he got started and wanted to share it.

In 1995, after more than two years of searching, Heston bought a 450-year-old pub in Bray. Small, with an impossibly cramped kitchen, only one door, no view, an outside toilet and a reputation as the hotspot for every drinker banned from other pubs in the area, it was hardly the ideal choice for a restaurant, but it was all he could afford.

At this stage, there was no thought of Michelin stars. With its beams sandblasted and a U-shaped copper bar installed, The Fat Duck opened as a simple bistro serving French classics such as petit salé of duck, steak and chips, sauce à la moelle and tarte tatin.  On the second day the oven exploded and Heston spent the rest of service with a bag of frozen peas strapped to his head. Inexperience and limited funds meant he was spending twenty hours a day in the kitchen, occasionally snatching fifteen minutes’ sleep curled up on a pile of dirty tea towels.

In 2004 it became only the third restaurant in the UK to hold 3 Michelin stars and in 2005 was voted the Best Restaurant in the World.

An amazing journey in a relatively short period of time.

If you’re beginning your journey as a consultant, freelancer or coach and are currently wondering how to put food on your family’s table. Have faith. Have a vision. Be good at what you do. Spend over 50% of your time finding ways to promote your business and you won’t go too far wrong.

Heston set out with a vision. You can too.

This is a topic drilled into small businesses from an early age, that you can’t sell on price. Some choose to ignore it – at their peril I’d say.

Here are 10 things I think you should be selling on instead.

1. You – as a business owner – you are a differentiator and a personality.
2. Ongoing support- can you persuade people you’re a safe pair of hands and will look after them ongoing. My dad would buy on that when it comes to IT services, that’s for sure.
3. Your geographical location – being close to someone can be a distinct advantage.
4. A unique benefit -benefits are only unique to an individual. What floats one buyer’s boat, won’t necessarily float another’s. There is rarely such a thing as a USP – drop that from your vocabulary.
5. A genuine USP – yes, I know what I just wrote… however, if you’re Apple you have one. You may have one too – just be really careful it is unique if you’re planning to sell on it.
6. Speed – can you deliver faster? People will buy from you because of it and guess what, they’ll pay a premium too.
7. Recommendation – people buy on recommendation and referral every day of the week – make sure you are set up to do this on an ongoing basis
8. Timing – being in the right place at the right time is key. You should spend a good proportion of your selling hours increasing your chances of this
9. Desire – creating longing amongst buyers and appealing to our primate ‘Croc Brain’ is one of the best ways to sell. Painting a picture of the outcome of buying your service will create desire.
10. Brand – it worked for IBM… (for a while)

Rarely of course does it boil down to just one thing off this list. Normally there’s a combination of factors involved however focusing on a subset of these 10 means you will remove the price discussion from the sales cycle, assuming you’ve done the budget qualification in the first instance.

I want to leave you with the inspiration for this post… undeniable proof that you don’t have to sell on price.

The world’s most desirable PET HOTEL. (yes really – and there’s a video to prove it, I’m afraid).

In 1998, i was fortunate enough to earn my Private Pilots License whilst I was living in Australia. It was a life long dream and after a couple of months of having the license, we returned to the UK and I’ve never flown since!

A lot of people have said to me – what was the point of all of that expense and effort if you don’t fly now? My answer to that is simple – firstly, it was a dream, which I fulfilled and loved every second of the experience. Secondly – I truly believe the experience taught me so much more than just learning to fly a plane.

Flying is perhaps 80% “what if”. The majority of your training is to help you to react in an emergency and my instructor always said to me that if you’re looking out the window enjoying the view – you’re definitely doing something wrong. I’m thinking that’s a pretty good analogy for the small business. It’s far too easy to ride a wave when things are going well, however that’s the time you should be more worried about your pipeline than any other time.

Are you listening to trends in the marketplace? Are you getting first mover advantage? Are you listening to your customers?

You need to keep adapting and changing, because if you stand still, you won’t survive.

37 Signals never stand still. I found this timelapse video of how their website has changed over the years – and I think there’s a message in there for all of us. The thing I take out is that the changes you make don’t need to be big. Small and often is the way to go for best results.

Evolution of a homepage from 37signals on Vimeo.